


Midnight Exigent

by SevenEyes



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 15:37:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19771258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SevenEyes/pseuds/SevenEyes
Summary: This story follows the adventures of an OC team as they fight alongside the regular RWBY cast. Everyone has graduated from Beacon. This is an AU where the Battle for Beacon unfolded very differently, though Yang still lost her arm.





	Midnight Exigent

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what I'm doing, but maybe this will be the start of something great! We'll all find out together. I have no grand plan for this story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This deliberately starts mid-action. I own nothing.

[six days ago]

We met up with Team RWBY with about an hour to spare, which naturally inspired Laurel and Yang to start flirting outrageously. Yes, with each other. Yes, while standing five feet away from their respective girlfriends. Blake responded by leaning against a tree and cracking open a small, unassuming paperback book. If her usual pattern held, it wasn’t G-rated literature. Miri seemed equally fine with the amorous actions of her significant other.

Meanwhile, I assigned myself to the obligatory ‘distract Ruby Rose’ mission. It was pretty much effortless, since all I had to do was ask her about her latest round of upgrades to Crescent Rose. Just like that, the adorable crimson reaper was gushing about her ‘sweetheart’ at a thousand words per minute.

During a break in Ruby’s love ballad honoring her own weapon, I glanced over at Laurel and Yang, who had apparently escalated from thinly-veiled flirting into outright describing what they would do to the other in the bedroom. I couldn’t make out exact words, but at one point the shadowy tentacles of Laurel’s Semblance manifested. Their positioning was… highly suggestive.

Yang, though, wasn’t one to back down, and leaned in to whisper something (no doubt something utterly filthy) into Laurel’s ear. This earned Yang the temporary advantage, as Laurel appeared momentarily stunned by whatever the other blonde said. Before my flustered teammate could recover her wits, Yang had already sashayed over to me. There was a completely unnecessary amount of sway in the movement of her hips, likely for Laurel’s benefit. Or for mine. You can never tell with Yang.

I got the distinct sense that Violet (who was currently in control) was about to get a tad possessive, and I was proven one hundred percent right about ten seconds later. Yang was only a few words into her blatant pickup line (targeting me) when Violet aggressively stepped between us, her green eyes full of… wait, was that lust? Damn, I may have miscalculated, because I was expecting ‘rage’ or ‘murderous intent’ to be the dominant emotion there. Now they were haggling over the precise terms of some kind of prize match. Yang, shit-eating grin fixed firmly on her face, spoke up.

“Fine, but if I win, I get to borrow your boy-toy for one night.”

Violet, not to be outdone, came back strong.

“Okay, but _when_ I win, I get to have my wicked way with him _and with you_ for a night. At the same time, and I won’t be gentle.”

Figuring that I should at least make a token show of resistance, I meekly interrupted the two bickering femme fatales. 

“Uh, do I get a say in this?”

Without even glancing at me, both girls chorused 

“No.”

in eerie, perfect unison. Damn. Did they practice that?

Violet had just finished describing (in great detail) how she was going to make Yang scream and possibly forget her own name, when she suddenly flinched in a manner that I immediately recognized. As her parting line, Violet went with a somewhat mournful tone.

“…Or instead of that, we could have totally boring vanilla sex, missionary-style, with no destruction of furniture and no biting, followed by some nauseatingly sweet cuddles. Swapping over.” 

Only Violet’s eye color actually changed (damn, I love that shade of blue so freaking much) but her body language shifted slightly. I, of course, noticed immediately, having a ton of experience with such things.

Dawn enveloped Yang in a fierce hug, murmuring about how much she’d missed the fiery blonde. Yang, to her credit, took this completely in stride, and dragged Dawn off to start gossiping about boys or makeup or something.

I panned my view back to the others. Weiss was seemingly deep in a very technical discussion with Miri about Dust manipulation. Blake was still reading her porn thinly disguised as literature. Ruby was fiddling with Crescent Rose, halfway through changing ammunition types. Yang and Dawn were still having their girl talk session, and Dawn was busy blushing up a storm. Laurel was happily munching on a high-calorie snack bar, trying to fuel up her Semblance for the coming battle. Speaking of which, I should probably check the currents of the future. I did so, then whistled to get everyone’s attention.

“Grimm, two minutes. Feels like a lot, at least one Alpha.”

Abruptly, all chatter ceased, and my seven companions snapped into battle mode. With truly terrifying speed and precision, Ruby finished loading fifty-caliber rounds into Crescent Rose, Blake put away her smut, Laurel shoved all of the remaining snack bar into her mouth, and Weiss drew Myrtenaster. 

Not wanting to be outdone, I pulled Last Whisper out of phase space. The blade practically hummed in my right hand, while my left checked that Blaze was still securely holstered at my side. It was.

A little less than two minutes after my warning, the first Grimm showed their ugly faces. In a way, defending Fern was much, much easier than your average ‘protect the civilians’ mission. There was exactly one narrow mountain pass down into the cavern that sheltered the cozy village, and eight well-armed Hunters were standing in it. Any Grimm that wanted to menace the villagers would have to go through us, and we were more than ready. 

The first wave of fang and claw literally disintegrated under Dawn’s barrage of Semblance-fueled plasma. The second wave was suddenly bogged down as if in quicksand, and I noticed a line of black glyphs beneath their feet. Weiss had one hand extended, face scrunched in intense concentration. 

While the Grimm slooooooooowly churned their way through the minefield of slowed time, the rest of us opened fire. 

Now, say what you like about Ruby Rose, devourer of cookies and full-time weapon geek: she can _shoot._ Every round from Crescent Rose obliterated the skull of an attacking Grimm. Even when she had to stop to change magazines, her insane rate of fire barely faltered. I’d yet to see the crimson huntress land anything other than a perfect killing shot.

By contrast, I felt a little bit lackluster. Blaze spat out a tempest of low-caliber rounds, most of which glanced off of bone armor. By pure luck, one of my shots punched through the eye socket of an unlucky Ursa Minor. Whether or not it would survive my shot was rendered a moot point by Ruby, who effortlessly finished it off.

What a show-off. I was just a tiny bit jealous. 

By then, Dawn was ready to unleash a fresh round of hell. With a (mostly theatrical) hand gesture, a dozen Grimm cracked like brittle plastic left out in the sun, falling into shards about the size of an apple. Damn, I was glad she was on our side.

Then then Grimm were on us, and I shifted Blaze into sword form, wielding it in a reverse grip with my left hand. My right hand held Last Whisper in a more conventional stance, held away from my body and slightly forward. The blade made a deep thrumming noise, sensing an oncoming feast. In my peripheral vision, I noticed Crescent Rose shift into scythe form, and I made a mental note to stay well clear of Ruby’s swings.

As Last Whisper shuddered with joy and ended another Grimm life, my eyes were drawn to Blake and Yang, who fought like one person in two bodies. Over and over again, one of the pair seemingly left herself open to a crippling blow from one of the Grimm. Over and over, the other partner appeared in time to block, moving so fast that it was like a badly-animated stop-motion film. The two of them were flawlessly in synch, and killed with a single, united purpose. It was honestly a little humbling.

Of course, my team wasn’t exactly idle while the RWBY contingent killed. I felt a quick tap on my left shoulder from Dawn, and gorgeous blue eyes blinked shut for a moment. When they opened again, they were a very distinctive shade of emerald green. Violet had come out to play. 

I’d like to say that Violet and I fought in tandem, but that would be facetious. It was much more accurate to say that Violet lunged headfirst into the fray, and I frantically tried to cover her. On the rare occasion when I was too slow, Violet simply tanked the bite or claw swipe with her aura, since dodging would have meant less time for killing. In her own way, Violet was a creature of extraordinary grace. Put slightly differently, Violet was whirlwind of carnage with no equal. Even without counting all of the kills she’d made as Dawn, Violet topped the charts as far as Grimm slain went. Only Yang even came close. I was probably tied for last place with Miri, but I was fine with that. We all brought different strengths to the table, and fighting wasn’t mine. 

Speaking of which, I focused my Aura to peer into the near future. As it just so happened, this coincided perfectly with a brief lull in the fighting, as the current pack of Grimm ran dry. We probably had about sixty seconds before the next one hit us. I took this opportunity to give the seven Huntresses an update on the strings of fate.

“Next wave will be about the same as the last. We have a different problem, though. There’s a small group of Grimm trying to tunnel into Fern from the north. They’ll be through the cavern walls right in the middle of our next round here.”

With a single, silent glance, Laurel and Ruby somehow exchanged whole volumes of information. Laurel nodded, once, and that apparently satisfied the red-cloaked Huntress. She spoke without hesitation or doubt. 

“Weiss and I will contain them and collapse the new tunnel. Radio us if things get too heavy back here. Weiss, shall we?”

With a long-suffering sigh, the Schnee heiress allowed herself to fall into a bridal carry in Ruby’s surprisingly strong arms. A second later, the two of them were gone in a twisting trail of red and white rose petals. 

That left six of us to hold the pass. We had to work a bit harder now that we were short two fighters, and by the end of the second wave, everyone was a little out of breath. About the time we ran out of enemies, Ruby’s voice crackled in everyone’s ear.

“Uh, guys, a little help here, maybe? There’s a Death Stalker. It’s big. Like, really, really big.”

Yang and Blake immediately strode over to me, looking a little bit disheveled from the fight. I looked at Yang. She looked back at me. She grinned and spoke.

“So, boost us?”

I nodded. 

“Sure, that’ll be twenty-five lien, plus tip.”

I swear that my remark almost got a noticeable smile from Blake. Success!

“Put it on my tab” Yang snarked, and both girls held out a hand. At the same time, Laurel radioed back a quick response to Ruby and Weiss.

“Roger. Sending Bumblebee by express mail now. Hold on a little longer.”

Meanwhile, standing before Yang and Blake, I drew heavily upon my Aura reserves, and speed-boosted both of them, staggering a bit at the exertion. It seemed that Violet had switched out at some point, because it was Dawn who steadied me with a hand on my arm. I flashed her a quick thumbs-up to show that I was still able to fight.

We were now down to half of our original force, and the Grimm were still coming. The third round degenerated into a brutal, disorganized melee. Several times, a Beowulf darted past us, making for the town center. Mid-leap, Violet swapped out for Dawn, who blasted the breakaway Grimm into powder. Violet was back in charge a second later, slaughtering another Grimm without breaking stride. Hundreds of hours of practice made the Violet-Dawn-Violet fast-swap a simple matter of muscle memory and good habits.

Still, the four of us were wearing out. My own aura was low, and the rest of my team was in a similar state. Another wave of Grimm was already massing, and I knew that this round was going to be an ordeal.

Or, rather, it would have been, had Team RWBY not shown up right then with a little backup. More specifically, Weiss had apparently gotten a gigantic, white, glowing Death Stalker from somewhere, and it lunged into battle under her command. My team pulled back for a quick breather, which was the only logical choice given our low Aura. 

Oh, also, the white Schnee-brand Death Stalker literally filled the entire tunnel, which made fighting alongside it problematic. After that, Weiss let her summoned Grimm tear apart the next wave as they came. Occasionally, a lone Beowulf would manage to squeeze past the colossal white Grimm, only to meet a world-shaking punch from Yang or a blindingly fast scythe strike from Ruby.

After that, the Grimm stopped coming. I verified that our immediate future was clear, which it was… sort of. We had a slight complication, and I relayed it to the group.

“Ladies, we’re done fighting Grimm for a next hour or so. Unfortunately, the civilians back in town are getting restless. There’s already been a pretty serious fight between the common folk, and the situation is getting kinda tense. At least one of us should go try to calm them down. Two or three of us might be safer.”

***

[one week earlier]

No one knew that the swaggering, drunken frat-boy asshole was seconds away from death. No one but me, anyway. Neo never stopped smiling, not for a second.

To an untrained observer, Neo was coquettishly enjoying the drunken pickup lines. To me, though, her murderous intent was crystal clear. The jerk in the frilly blue shirt didn’t realize it, but he was staring into the adorable heterochromic eyes of the grim fucking reaper. 

I’ve lost count of the number of people who underestimated Neo. It’s a huge, huge total, easily in the thousands. Now, the number of people who have underestimated Neo _and survived_ is much, much smaller. Nine times out of ten, blindly assuming that the petite ice-cream-themed girl was cute and harmless was very, very dumb. Most people didn’t take Neo seriously. Most of those people aren’t breathing any more.

Note to self: never, never, never let Laurel and Neo meet. Vale wouldn’t survive. 

***

[present day]

I’d foolishly assumed that it would take Ruby Rose about a week to craft eight different prop weapons for us to “surrender” to the guards. I’d assumed that design, production, and even painting were things that would take a proper manufacturing team (of a dozen people) several days at least. At the absolute zenith of my misjudgment, I’d literally, audibly asked (like a fool) how fast one person could possibly work. Serves me right, I guess.

Ruby did the entire project in less than four hours. Fully half of that time was spent on the dummy version of her darling, Crescent Rose, because Ruby was a huge nerd like that. If there was ever any doubt in my mind about Ruby’s status as a prodigy, this thoroughly dispelled it. Even though her prop weapon didn’t need to be able to transform, fire, or actually hold up in combat, Ruby had insisted on some degree of surface-level authenticity. I’d opened my mouth to protest, only to see the other three members of RWBY shake their heads at me in perfect unison. I let the issue drop.

Anyway, the short version of our current mission is this: the Black Baron (who was as pompous and pretentious as his title suggested) had several of the late Penny’s core components. We wanted them. We were prepared to negotiate, but the Black Baron would never let a huntsman, let alone eight huntsmen, into his throne room armed. He was, apparently, not a total moron. 

No, the Baron was merely ninety-nine percent moron. I concluded this for two reasons: first, he thought that “disarming” our two teams would actually matter. Hell, Yang alone could probably beat the shit out of everyone in this gaudy, ostentatious room, with no real need for Ember Celica. 

The second thing that showed that the Baron was an idiot was the smug, disrespectful way he talked to Ruby.

“Look, little girl, this is clearly a waste of my time. The broken components of that… construct are mine, and I truly doubt that you have the required Lien…”

At this point, the old fool quoted a price that was nothing short of laughably high.

“…to purchase them. So, you see, I won’t be humoring your little request. Now, run along.”

Blake, without even needing to look at her partner, held out an arm to stop an enraged Yang from brutally ripping the Baron’s internal organs out of his body. Beside me, I felt my team bristle at the insult. Ruby, though, kept an icy and collected demeanor that surprised me. Had she been taking lessons from Weiss? Anyway, at that point, a fight was inevitable. Honestly, that suited me just fine. 

The atmosphere in the room shifted to hostile, and Ruby frowned very slightly. It was a look that promised pain, bruises, and massive property damage. In that moment, I’ve never been more glad that the adorable, terrifying reaper was on our side. Ruby didn’t shout, or rant, or show any significant emotion, because she didn’t need to. Ruby spoke one last time, and the pure _threat_ that laced her words made me shiver.

“It wasn’t a request.”

Well, that’s my cue. 

Pulling hard on my semblance, I produce everyone’s weapon except my own from my pocket dimension, all of them already in mid-flight to the appropriate Hunter. In Yang’s case, she catches both Ember Celica and a magazine of shotgun shells for her prosthetic arm. The guards at the door who had insisted that Yang unload her limb-weapon probably felt pretty silly right about now. 

The usual wave of dizziness and nausea hit me hard, and I collapsed to one knee. The next minute or so is fuzzy and out of focus, but I can clearly hear the shouting of the hapless Baron and his goons. 

When I manage to stand, the room has been… redecorated. With ruble. Also, with the unconscious bodies of two dozen goons. 

Oh, it’s a classic villain mistake: the heroes appear unarmed and are surrounded by your minions who all have guns, so you’re clearly safe.

There are many, many things wrong with this line of thinking. First and foremost, Hunters are never _really_ unarmed. Second, standard bullets are great against squishy Aura-less chumps, but they will just make Hunters really pissed off before they annihilate you.

Baron McStupid clearly does not know what a terrible situation he’s put himself in. However, chances are excellent that he will find out in the very, very near future.

So, right. Back to the action scene. With a mighty pulse of my Semblance, seven objects are suddenly dropped into the hands of their rightful users. Yang gets two, since she needs both the actual Ember Celica bracelet and a fresh magazine of shotgun shells for her arm. The currently red-eyed blonde catches both objects deftly, and then we get to work.

I, of course, basically collapse after spending so much Aura so quickly. Fortunately, Laurel and Miri cover me with practiced ease, while Violet (of course) instantly lunges headfirst into battle.

Still winded, I rise from one knee and give Laurel and Miri the thumbs-up. I’m not fully recovered by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m coherent enough to summon my own weapon and defend myself. Seeing this, the two girls leave my side and start beating the crap out of the few remaining guards. Team RWBY already has a substantial head start in the “goons beaten up” contest currently running. 

As it turns out, there is exactly _one_ skilled fighter amongst the entire royal entourage, and he is currently engaged in a furious blade duel with Weiss. Both combatants have Aura and wield elegant rapiers, and their exchange of blows is almost faster than the eye can see.

Weiss is keeping up with the royal champion, who seems to favor sharp, lightning-fast strikes with his blade. Weiss blocks or deflects every single one, though her haughty expression now has a hint of ‘mildly impressed’ buried in it. It’s fairly clear that Weiss would beat him eventually, but by this point, the rest of us are done mopping up the riff-raff. Mister Blade Champion is completely blindsided by the blunt end of the real Crescent Rose hitting his forehead, but he manages to stay conscious long enough to stagger backwards… directly into Yang’s left hook. The poor guy drops like a marionette with severed strings.

Yang seems quite pleased with her latest move, which surprises absolutely no one. 

A single menacing glare from Weiss (who can, I’ll freely admit, be _terrifying_ ) makes the Baron extremely eager to cooperate. 

We get our parts.


End file.
